Horizon Brave Vs The World - A Cold Welcome
by Unca Bob
Summary: A battered city. An ancient Jager. Kaiju everywhere. Twin 155mm Howitzer tanks referred to as conventional military units. A research team fueled by desperation and suspension of disbelief. A solemn oath not to make ice puns. What could possibly go wrong? A dramatisation of the Sufficient Velocity hosted, play by post game: Horizon Brave Vs. The World - A Cold Welcome
1. Chapter 1: A Cold Welcome

**Horizon Brave Vs. The World  
A Cold Welcome**

Sydney, Australia

It is 2026. The world is in a state of turmoil.

The Kaiju War has ravaged the world for over a decade, monsters from the deep rising to wreak havoc on Earth s cities and nations. At first, things went well, the metal warriors of the Jaeger program beating back the Kaiju on every front. For years, the Pan Pacific Defence Corp scored victory after victory, crushing every Kaiju that waded ashore.

In 2020, the tide slowly started to change. Larger, more ferocious Kaiju started to rise from the breach more frequently and one by one, the Jaegers started to fall.

Then, in the last days of 2025, all hell broke lose.

A massive EMP erupted from the Breach. All contact with the outside world ceased immediately, leaving Sydney s long-range radio links and satellite feeds devoid of anything but roaring static. A few attempts were made to venture out beyond the range of the city s still-functioning short range radio transmitters to reestablish lines of communication. None who left ever returned.

Massive, unnatural storms wracked the sky and high altitude flight was swiftly rendered impossible, most aircraft s engines tearing themselves to pieces within a few hours of flight in the strange atmospheric conditions. For a while, the citizens of Sydney could only wait, and hope that some sort of deliverance would emerge.

Then, four months later, the Wall of Life protecting Sydney was attacked.

It was only a small Kaiju, just a Category II on the Serizawa Scale, but without a Jaeger to watch over them, the people of Sydney could only watch in horror as the creature tore down the wall, shrugging off fire from what few scattered Australian military units were still stationed in the city. All hope seemed lost. when suddenly, a booming fog horn cut through the noise of battle. Emerging through the smoke and early morning fog came the battered form of an old Mark I Jaeger.

Horizon Brave.

* * *

Authors Notes:

So, what did you just read?  
Well this here is the introduction to Horizon Brave Vs. The World - A Cold Welcome.  
Yes I know that you say, it's in the title.  
Well I'm glad you read the title. HBVsTW is a play by post game hosted on the Sufficient Velocity Forums, run by the awesome and possibly mad Kibbles, who I promise I will never mistake for dog food.  
It was inspired by, and draws heavily from, Cherno Alpha Versus The World. A somewhat legendary game that took place on the Space Battles forums.  
It utilised a slightly modified version of Cyberpulp - Hardboilded, a game system developed and tested on the Space Battles forums.  
So why are you reading this here then?  
Well, I'm one of the players and although I knew of CAVsTW even before I joined this game, I'd not been able to properly follow the thread of the game.  
But once I had it was much simpler.  
But not easy.  
Even reading back over what I'd played through myself in this game was less than fluid.  
So this here is what I decided to do about it.  
What follows is going to be a mix of Kibbles' written fluff, paraphrased player interactions and the actual in-game events, all wrapped up with extra bits of my own writing filling in the gaps.  
There will never be anything approaching an update schedule, due to progression here depending on both game progression and me being motivated to write about it.  
There will also be a lack of normal story structure and if you have a problem with that feel free not to read it.  
That said, hopefully I'll produce something legible and you'll get some entertainment out of this.


	2. Chapter 2: Week 1

Pages 1-3

Week 1

The sight of Sydney being attacked is a sad one. A few squadrons of tanks are scattered across the massive wall, their barrels depressed to aim at the massive beast which tears at the fortification below them. A few helicopters buzz around noisily, daring around the roaring Kaiju like a swarm of bees around an elephant. The occasional boom of a cannon firing or a rocket splashing harmlessly off the creature's armoured back is drowned by the almost constant roar of the Kaiju or the thundering, echoing sound of collapsing masonry.

Horizon Brave's pilots look on with a grimace. They are both exhausted, worn out from their long trek. Their right leg is shot, trailing sparks, fluids and making them walk with a distinctive limp. the usually agile Jaeger feels sluggish and unresponsive. Although the Kaiju, a Category II their computer has tagged as Cora, hasn't noticed them yet, there is little choice but to fight it and gain access Sydney's shatterdome and the repairs they so desperately need. Horizon Brave steadies itself for a moment before digging the front of its left foot into the ground and pounding towards the Kaiju. The Jaeger sways uncertainly for a moment but quickly regains its balance as the pilots power forward. The fog horn booms out again, this time catching the attention of the Kaiju. Cora whips its long, slim body around to face the Jaeger, baring its claws in delight at the sight of live prey. It stalks forward, howling a primitive challenge at the damaged machine.

The pilots get a better view of Cora as the distance closes. The tall, bipedal Kaiju is vaguely reminiscent of a raptor. A large bony growth juts out the top of its head and a series of armoured plates run down its back. Extending out behind Cora's hips is a long thin stiff tail, making up more than half the Kaiju's length. Horizon Brave blasts its horn again, almost as if baiting the Kaiju to do something stupid as it trudges forward. The defenders of Sydney let out a cheer as the Jaeger emerges through the early morning fog and in an instant the short-range radio channels are swamped with reports of the Jaeger's surprise arrival.

Cora wastes no time, leaving the wall behind completely and breaking into a flat out sprint towards the Jaeger, its slim body stretching out to greater length as it powers towards its new for. Horizon's pilots barely have time to react as the Cora launches itself sideways, using it's speed to power a shoulder check straight into the Jaegers chest. Horizon barely has time to raise its arms, never mind stop the Kaiju's furious charge. It makes a valiant attempt though and with a hand around the Kaiju's slender neck, trying to halt Cora's forward momentum before the bony crest growing out of the Kaiju's head slams straight into it's right shoulder. It proves to be enough as the crest only grinds off a line of paint along the curved armour protecting the shoulder joint.

Hanging from their harnesses in the conpod, both pilots grit their teeth and snarl "Cool off!" With a hiss and a mechanical whir, Horizon Brave's shoulder mounted freezer cannons cycle open like flowers in the sun. From within the yellow tipped cylinders a sheet of shimmering liquid nitrogen is launched upwards, dousing Cora with subzero liquid. The Kaiju screeches and coils back as massive chunks of it's shoulder instantly blacken and peel away, the cells and tissues burnt away by the intensity of the sudden cold blast.

In retaliation Cora darts it's head down and snaps it's jaws shut on Horizon's left thigh. Teeth dig in, buckling the armour slightly and rupturing a few hydraulic lines. For a foe in such a dominating position though, it's a rather pathetic attack. But after all the use and abuse the venerable Jaeger has suffered that little bit is enough, as the old systems just can't manage the plethora of small breakages and start to slow. But they didn't come this far to die on the doorstep.

This time Horizon pushes itself up out of the shallow water, mercilessly blasting Cora with all three of its freezer cannons with a wide sweep. The left cannon catches the Kaiju's shoulder again, the already blackened and cracked flesh starts sloughing off in sheets of frosted skin and muscles. The right cannon follows straight behind the first, almost reducing the Kaiju's shoulder to a stump. With a sharp crack the remains of the armoured plate covering the Kaiju's battered shoulder shatters into a million pieces. Cora sways as it's balance is forcibly readjusted. The final cannon, built into Horizon Brave's torso on several smaller swivel mounts, tracks upwards and blasts a spray across the Kaiju's exposed chest. The creature's skin cracks and sloughs off and Cora lets out a sickening screech of pain. Almost all of the leathery skin cracks and breaks off, revealing the already bruising muscles beneath.

Cora, despite nearly losing a shoulder and having its chest pumped full of liquid nitrogen, is still alive and fighting. With a a pitiful shriek it snaps forwards. In no mood to be let Cora have it's way, Horizon tries to twist the Kaiju's snapping, frothing mouth away but misjudges the Kaiju's speed, instead getting its right hand stuck inside the Kaiju's maw. Warning indicators beep as teeth slip between armour plates and into joints. By this time the grinding of metal and loss of fluid is taking it's toll further reducing the Jaegers ability to continue.

With its right hand still lodged firmly in Cora's mouth, Horizon Brave fires its Freezer cannons one last time, emptying the last of its nitrogen reserves in one last ditch effort to bring the persistent Kaiju down. A wave of the freezing substance washes into the Kaiju's chest, slowing freezing the Kaiju's heart and lungs with a wet squelch. With its final breath, Cora can only watch as the other stream burns into its good shoulder, turning it into solid chunk of flesh, bone, skin and armour. With a roar, Horizon's pilots clamber back fully upright, and push the wheezing Kaiju over with a delicate touch.

There is a dull crack as frozen body parts shatter form impact. The creature lets out a few pained spasms, unable to even cry out in pain, before finally falling still.

Horizon Brave is quickly hauled into the shatterdome by Sydney's rallied military, a squadron of Jumphawks descending on the Jaeger a mere minute after Cora's corpse has hit the water. While the shatterdome hasn't been used for almost half a year, it is swiftly brought back online and spare parts are quickly fabricated to replace Horizon's damaged ones. The pilots almost immediately collapse as soon as their harnesses are removed and are rushed to the infirmary where they sleep for soundly for the rest of day. When they awake they are quickly debriefed by Sydney's remaining commanders and the events leading up to their arrival in Sydney is uncovered.

Horizon Brave, damaged badly in Manila in 2023 was moved off the front lines and initially consigned to the scrap heap. It had been an odd turn of events when the Indian Government had purchased the Jaeger, had it shipped to Mumbai and rebuilt. While the Indians lacked their own pilots, they'd been able to recruit the brothers Phil and Byron Darby, two British Ranger reservists, without much fuss and put them in command of the old Jaeger. The refit took the better part of two years and by that time, the war had taken a massive turn for the worse. Only a handful of Jaegers stood and the PPDC was desperate to get their hands on anything they could. Horizon Brave was en-route to Hong Kong for the last hurrah planned by the organization's leading Marshall, Stacker Pentecost, when the EMP hit. The convoy carrying the Jaeger was attacked soon after by a CAT IV and it was only by a miracle that Horizon Brave managed to power up, freeze a part of the Kaiju solid and escape before the furious beast could give chase.

Isolated and with limited navigational systems, the Jaeger plodded through Indonesia, avoiding Kaiju where possible and making a beeline south, away from the breach. The first spot of hope the two pilots found was when they encountered an intact section of the Australian Wall of Life. Damaged and in need of refit, the Rangers piloted the venerable machine south along the wall for months, getting little rest and disconnecting only when they needed a break from the drift. While they hoped that the wall had held, they found several breaches in the wall on the Queensland tropical coast and a score more on the long trek between Brisbane and Sydney.

Needless to say, it was a hell of a walk.

While Horizon Brave's pilots recover from their trek, the city's attention shifts to other matters. Horizon Brave is patched up by the end of the week, enthusiastic workers with hammers pounding out dents with hammers and patching up the machine's battered armour within hours of it arriving in the repair bay. New hydraulic lines and shock absorbers are installed and the troublesome servos which have hampered the Jaeger's agility since its escape are ripped out and replaced with new ones, an operation which requires several days of careful repairs and more finesse than simply volunteers armed with hammers and welding torches.

Sydney has been under martial law since the EMP shook the world. The militaries' two ranking members currently fit for duty discuss what their precious time and limited resources should be spent on. The one often referred to as "Lord Death", for his deathly seeming visage and knighthood, motions for military expansion. The other is known as Kavlo, a reclusive figure rarely seen in public rumored to have once been a Jaeger Pilot with kills under his belt, counters that despite their recent disorganisation the city actually has decently numerous military units. Instead he outlines a plan for building up things lost since the EMP, that is quickly agreed upon.

In the days following the city is vastly improved. A new network of relay stations being installed beyond the city wall giving the city a limited communication network outside the walls. New cables and exchanges are also set up within, bringing more of the shattered suburbs into the fold of the metropolitan area. The city's scanner grid is also beefed up in the wake of Cora's attack, the patrol boats busily working to deploy a wider reaching net of beacons and buoys to track incoming Kaiju. New tracking and monitoring stations are established to monitor inland approaches, the news of wall breaches further north dispelling the notion that the Kaiju wouldn't threaten the city from that quarter. Lastly, the Shatterdome's labs and workshops are reactivated and expanded, entire rooms full of junk being cleared to make way for R&amp;D teams to set up shop. Although it's not much, it's certainly a massive boost for the city's intellectuals.

Seven days after Cora choked out it's last, the final pieces of Horizon Brave's leg armour are just reinstalled when the new sensors sit out a reading.

WARNING. INBOUND KAIJU SIGNATURES DETECTED. TRIPLE EVENT. ALL HANDS TO STATIONS


	3. Chapter 3: Week 2

Pages 3-8

Week 2

WARNING. INBOUND KAIJU SIGNATURES DETECTED. TRIPLE EVENT. ALL HANDS TO STATIONS

The scanner grid, despite the technician's claims of reliability, seems to have issues picking up the Kaiju at first. It takes a few minutes of distinctly Australian swearing and a few kicks to the console before it finally gets a solid track on the encroaching Kaiju. The three creatures initially take the command staff by surprise. They're almost identical.

The three Kaiju are approaching from the south west, each one down on all fours, sniffling and pawing at the ground like a pack of hounds. As they come closer, the new OPs get a good look at them. One, clearly larger than the other two is quickly marked as a CAT II. It bears a strong resemblance to a leen, stretched hunting dog. Sets of razor sharp teeth line its slavering maw and six beady eyes glare out from underneath its heavily armoured head. The other two are smaller, CAT I Kaiju no doubt. they follow just behind the larger one, long tongues tasting the air. Unlike the larger Kaiju, each has a large array of quills, each one several metres long, imbedded in their backs. As the three Kaiju draw closer to the city their formation tightens.

Orders fly across radio waves as the military responds. With the rumble of over a hundred armoured vehicles, the forces of Sydney hasten to defend their city. Trucks, buggys, light APCs and other transports rush to the wall and squads of infantry quickly deploy, mere ants compared to the approaching Kaiju. Armada of tanks roars out the city gates, each one a ninety ton, twin barreled monster. In conventional warfare, these armoured beasts would be truly terrifying to fight, but against Kaiju, the tankers know they are well and truly outgunned. Above them roars a fleet of armed helicopters, small nimble scouts darting ahead and relaying information to the rest of the force and two dozen heavier attack helicopters following behind them. Horizon Brave is close behind, swinging lazily from its Jumphawks before slamming down into the ground a kilometre from the city wall. Hundreds of small dwellings stretch out before them, most abandoned since the massive EMP storm four months ago. A few straggling civilians flee past the patiently waiting Jaeger, a handful cheering before disappearing behind the low concrete wall.

"Ready at the line, awaiting orders."

The Tigers are ordered to shift to the left, the Kiowas following a few hundred metres behind as they sweep out wide. Targeting system track the Kaiju, establishing missile locks. Oranao pads forward, two eyes watching the massed gunships carefully, the other four fixed firmly on Horizon Brave. It's two packmates move forward at a carefulyl measured pace, Alpharia drawing ahead of Sapra slightly. With a whirl of displaced air the Tigers live up to their namesakes, darting forward and loose a volley of thermite filled missiles at the closest Kaiju.

The flurry of missiles washes over the Oranao like rain, impact after impact driving it the ground. Oranao's chest is burned but it's legs are farm worse. Both front legs are engulfed by white hot slag. Unable to stand the Kaiju collapses to the ground. Oranao's entire body spasms, its mouth frothing and tongue jerking wildly. A few of the spines along its back twitch in sympathy before the creature goes still, dead and smouldering.

The helicopter pilots barely have time to celebrate before Sapra lets out a howl of anguish and bounds towards them, fury in its eyes. A score of the quills along its back twitch, shake and then fly out at the hovering helicopters. Unable to move in time the soldiers an only brace themselves and hope. A hail of debris patters to the ground, over a dozen helicopters wildly tumbling out of control from the passage of the massive projectiles or completely speared. Two full squadrons lost to one strike. Alpharia lets out a harsh bark, almost akin to a hearty chuckle, talking a few steps forward before waiting for it's pack mate to catch up.

With an almost indecent amount of haste, the surviving Tigers wheel around and head back towards Sydney. The scouts, not wanting to befall the same fate as their larger cousins, dart back behind the protective bulk of Horizon Brave. The tanks load shells and gunners double check their sights, eager to get some payback for the chopper pilots. Behind them a few of the infantrymen shift nervously on the wall. If those spins can do that to armour helicopters, a human hit by one would be little more than a smear.

Pulling its packmate away from its deceased sibling with an angry bark, Alpharia advances on Horizon brave, its casual pace increasing to a slow run. It lets out another howl and Sapra roars ahead, its tongue hanging out and its eyes eager for revenge. The assembled tanks wait patiently as the range slowly ticks down on their targeters until it ticks over to the sweet spot, 2000 metres.

"FIRE!"

Maybe the Kaiju's ferocious pace put the tanks off, or maybe the tankers simply had too much to drink. Whatever it is, massive plumes of dirt and earth fly up as the barrage scatters around the rushing Kaiju. One pair of rounds clips the Kaiju across the hind leg, cutting a deep line into the beast's skin which oozes blood but otherwise does little more than to just piss it off. With another thundering echo the tanks open fire again, shells screaming and whistling past the steadily advancing Kaiju. One squadron reports running out ammunition soon after opening fire. The barrage is largely ineffective though, only one squadron is on target, burrowing a group of shells into the Kaiju's chest. Sapra staggers a little at the impact before re-righting itself, virtually unhurt by the barrage.

Sapra and Alpharia continue plodding towards Horizon Brave stubbornly, ignoring the hastily aimed shots sizzling through the air around them. Bounding forward, Sapra's spine convulses again and another hail of deadly spines comes arching towards Horizon Brave torso. Horizon Brave shudders as the metre long spines punch in deep, cutting through a multitude of systems and lighting up a dozen alerts across the status screen. As if sensing its prey is injured, Alpharia picks up the pace, pulling slightly ahead of its packmate.

Horizon Brave's pilots immediately jump into damage control mode, rerouting power and shutting down critically damaged systems. It's a testament to their skill that the Jaeger pulls through ready to fight. The massed tanks open fire again, this time a veritable swarm of the light scout helicopters joining in the attack. A hundred spears of fire race towards Spara before splashing across its body. Sapra vanishes under the barrage for a moment, buried under a wave of explosions. A haze of smoke washes over the space between the small helicopters and the Kaiju. When the smoke clears the Kaiju is still, blood pouring down its body from a dozen different wounds. It lets out a feeble croak before finally expiring.

Horizon Brave however, has its sights firmly fixed on the last remaining Kaiju. It starts forward, its first step a little wobbly before it breaks into a run. The fog horns boom s the Jaeger sprints towards Alpharia, trying to knock the comparatively small Kaiju to the dirt with its weight. Alpharia, down low and ready to receive the Jaeger's charge realises what's about to happen at the last moment, but by then it's too late. Way too late. Horizon Brave slams into the Kaiju, its barely intact Torso cannon firing as the Jaeger's reinforced chest slaps the Kaiju aside. The Kaiju quickly rallies though, latching its jaw around Horizon Brave's arm and trying to pull the Jaeger down to the ground with it.

This is a grave error on Alpharia's part. Though old and badly outdated, Horizon Brave does do one thing very, very well. With it's weighty bulk, powerful hands and arms and cunningly engineered low centre of gravity, Horizon Brave is a master of colossal scale grapples. Twisting the Kaiju to the ground with impunity, Horizon Brave slams its fist into the Kaiju's gut. The torso cannon fires, delivering a spray of liquid nitrogen to following up after the blow and turning the wound a dead black. Reeling from the blow, Alpharia struggles to keep the grapple going, its movements slowing and a distinctly unhealthy wheeze coming from its mouth. But Alpharia can only watch as the fist comes swinging in again, only for it to glitch out and fly wide, slamming into the ground three metres away from the Kaiju. Horizon Brave's wounds are starting to take their toll and something inside its torso crumples with a hideous shriek and a spray of sparks. But Alpharia's reprieve is only seconds long as the pilots compensate and lash out again. There is a sickening crunch as the blow connects, ending the Kaiju's pain.

With Alpharia's blood still coating its fists, Horizon Brave is quickly hauled back to the shatterdome and shut down for repairs. A quartet of the five metre spines are found inside the machine's gut and are painstakingly removed and the holes quickly patched up. The internal damage is extensive though, requiring more time in the repair bay before the Jaeger is fully operational again. A cordon is quickly set up around the three Kaiju and the corpses stripped down for useful materials. Alpharia and and Orarao are in fairly good condition, most of their wounds being inflicted by blunt weapons or the fiery payload of Sydney's now diminished air force. Sapra is a bit more of a problem though. The Kaiju has left a trail of blood almost a kilometre long behind it and the hundreds of craters which pock its skin have leaked more of the noxious fluid over the ground. It's one hell of a mess, but no one complains about getting it cleaned up.

More ranking personnel return to the Shatterdome. Both military and researchers from both the J and K tech divisions. There is a flurry of arguments over research and development until Kavlo mentions that improvement to the cities industrial base would pay great dividend quickly. Shortly after all present agree an a plan of action for the coming week.

The next week is filled with a whildwind of activity all across Sydney. Outside the small wall, cleanup crews toil day and night containing and removing the toxic slurry that Sapra left behind. Despite their best efforts hundreds of metres of land are rendered unusable and the area is declared off limits for the time being. Despite this, a team from K tech headed up by a Melbournian, noted for his ratty lab coat with hand sown flame decals on the shoulders, takes the chance to examine the Kaiju's ranged weapon and declare that with some work it could easily be recreated. Outside the population centres, vacant blocks are bulldozed and parks paved over, clearing space for a new manufacturing district. It doesn't take long for them to get to work, pumping out six gleaming new scout helicopters to augment Sydney's somewhat depleted airforce. Volunteers are quickly trained in the operation of the machines and before the end of the week the new choppers are already terrorising citizens with low, daring sweeps.

Horizon Brave is taken apart, mechanics getting deep into its gut to repair the vital power conduits, reconnect coolant lines and fix the mess Sapra's barbs left in the Jaeger. One of the massive projectiles is preserved and hung in the Shatterdome as a trophy. With the Jaeger already in for repairs, the opportunity to upgrade its computer systems is also seized and within a few days the parts for a new neural interface and much more refined control circuits are laid out, allowing the Jaeger to perform more delicate actions. While it won't take long to install, new parts are held back, the other repairs to Horizon Brave have taken most of the week and an alert could come down the line at any moment...

Like this one.

WARNING. INBOUND KAIJU SIGNATURE DETECTED, CATEGORY III. ALL HANDS TO STATIONS.


	4. Chapter 4: Week 3

Pages 8-15

Week 3

WARNING. INBOUND KAUU SIGNATURE DETECTED, CATEGORY III. ALL HANDS TO STATIONS.

Despite the assurances that the scanner grid would be up to par, the city's detection grid doesn't pick the inbound Kaiju until it's trampling past Sugarloaf bay, a mere eight kilometre's north of the city centre. The Kaiju, a massive Category III is quickly identified, it's one that's been hanging around since before the massive EMP hit. The Kaiju, a strange blend between eel, shark and scorpion is almost affectionately called Bruce. While Bruce has been around for a while, very little is known about him, the Kaiju has never directly attacked a city before and there was no record of it actually ever coming out of the breach beneath the Pacific. Hilariously, as the Kaiju skirts around the edge of the bay cautiously, it looks like it could even be afraid of the water. That idea is quickly dispelled though as the Kaiju sights the towering skyscrapers of the Central distinct of Sydney and powers towards them, ignoring the fact that Sydney Harbour is between it and its target.

With a rush Sydney's forces scramble to meet Bruce. Horizon Brave is lifted from the shatterdome and gently placed down near the edge of one of the hundreds of small bays which line Sydney Harbour. Tanks and infantry mill around underfoot, jostling for the best positions in the hastily set up killbox. The diminished fleet of choppers buzzes overhead, the brand new squadron of Kiowas pulling the short straw and roaring ahead of the formation to collect more data on Bruce. By the time to choppers are in position the Kaiju is barely four kilometers away from the southern shoreline, its pace seems to have slowed slightly, almost as if it has finally realised there's water between it and its prey. Th scouts buzz overhead at a safe distance, pointing their cameras and scanners at the Kaiju.

It's not a pretty picture

Bruce is big, massive. Larger than all of the Kaiju Sydney has fought so far combined. The Kaiju's body is tough and armoured like a scorpion, although the similarities end at the front and the back, where a large tail looking more at home on a shark and a long snaking neck from an eel sits. Bruce froths and foams, snapping it's needle like teeth at the intruding helicopters, clacking a pair of oversized pincers menacingly but making no more aggressive action towards them. Their run complete, the helicopters move back towards the other helicopters and fall into place. Bruce continues to advance, its beady eyes fixed on Horizon Brave like the Jaeger had said something nasty about its mother. It scuttles forward, the range finders on the assembled tanks ticking down until, a few hundred metres from the opposite shore, the range dips below 2000m

Inside one tank, wrapped in armour as useful here as wet paper sits the nominal commander of the Sydney's tanks. A giant of a man, iconic both for his all weather shorts and enormous beard. A smile dances across his lips as the gunner lines up his first shot. With a bellow load enough to temporarily deafen he gives the order.

"FIRE!"

The tank fire is thick and furious, splashing over the Kaiju's leg joints like monsoonal rain. The creature's thick armour holds though and once the smoke clears, the only damage Bruce has received is a little carbon scoring. Bruce plods forward, its pace slowing drastically as it enters the water. It seems to flounder a little as the waves crash up around its legs but quickly regains its composure.

The barrage lays on again, this time some of the tanks managing to find a nook in the Kaiju's armour. Bruce shrugs off the wound and rears back, its jaws snapping noisily. With a sick squelch, parts of its back carapace split open revealing a series of long tubes buried deep into the Kaiju's body. Before anyone can call out a warning, a jet of steaming acid shoots out, completely smothering two of the tank squadrons. Mercifully, the tanks and their crew are reduced to piles of goo before their panicked screams can break over the TACNET, though that is little consolation to the surviving tankers.

With a ground shaking rumble, Horizon Brave takes a step forward before leaning over and breaking into a run, quickly closing the distance between it and the Kaiju. Despite their seemingly ineffective shooting, the tanks keep firing, shells roraing of out their twin barrels and straight into the Kaiju. As the thunderous barrage continues, a another tank squadron quickly reports being out of ammo and withdraws, leaving just two squadrons to face the massive Kaiju. Despite scoring several hits, the tank's shells do little more than bounce of Bruce's armour with tiny pings.

But the tanks are not the only force arrayed against Bruce. Blades whirling, the heavy attack and light scout choppers both wing their noses down at the approaching monster. Hundreds of rockets leap out from ranks and ripple across the Kaiju. Pinpricks of fire and heat spring up all over the massive creature's body as Sydney gives it all its got. Bruce shrugs it off like they a lion would ignore a barrage of leaves. Then the last of the Tigers fire. It's a good shot, the missiles flying straight and true before burying themselves in one of Bruce's right legs. A second later the projectile explodes, showering the Kaiju with a sheet of burning thermite.

For the first time, Bruce seems to notice, roaring in pain at the injury. Angered by the buzzing helicopters, Bruce retreats into its carapace slightly, the deadly acid spitters jutting out again and discharging with another gut-wrenching squelch. Dozens of Helicopters simply vanish, their lights hull immediately turning to slag as the acid washes over the clustered formation.

Ploughing through Sydney Harbour like a vengeful spirit, Horizon Brave powers towards Bruce, foghorn booming. Bruce tries backing away but the waters and damage to it's legs cripple it's ability to run and the Jaeger catches up before Bruce has moved one hundred meters. As Horizon Brave stomps over Bruce tries to ward it off with its pincers but Horizon swats them aside, grabbing the creature by the neck and starting to tussle.

Horizon easily twists the Kaiju around like a toy, Bruce snarling and frothing but unable to get a good grip. Bruce quickly regains the initiative from the Jaeger, nearly flipping it over entirely as it forces its way upright. Horizon Brave tries to twist Bruce aside but at the last minute, one of the arm motors lock up. Before the auxiliary can kick in, Bruce rounds on the stricken Jaeger, ready to pound it to scrap. However he promptly stands in a especially deep patch of water, looses his footing and proceeds to freak out. Horizon Brave quickly jumps back in, twisting the floundering Kaiju back into submission. Horizon Brave sidesteps the panicking Kaiju, twisting one of its pincers behind its head and holding it open to attack.

Inside Horizon's conpod, another battle was taking place. while not as heated as the one the Jaeger was currently engaged in, it was a battle nonetheless. A battle of wills. Phil wanted nothing more than to break this Kaiju's spine as though it was one of the short staffs in the Kwoon rooms. He had been reprimanded for it, but he thought, 'hey, they can afford giant mechas, how much can a red painted stick cost'?

"A week without dessert you moron." was the response he got through the neural link. He swore it was more hiss than words. While Byron was the more collected of the two, he had a sweet tooth that was the stuff of legends. Drifting with him during the week long walk had been hell and back for Phil. A full week of nightmares induced by the lovecraftian horrors Byron had always read about and that until that point he had kept out of the drift. A cold chill ran down Phil's spine.

"So, we take a break?" asked Phil.

"No, the Jaeger's muscles are straining as it is, we would break ourselves trying to take a break." answered Byron.

"Cryo cannons?" said Phil. "Maybe we can chill out".

"Unless you want to freeze our asses too..." retorted Byron, a flick of frustration in his voice, which was met with a warning from the Jaeger's IA.

"So then what? We keep punching it until it recharges his acid spit and turns us into a puddle?" Phil almost shouted, the image of the tanks and helicopters being reduced to nothing still fresh on his mind, so many lives lost to this monster...

"We are pretty close to it, if we see its armour shifting we could get out of the way." said Byron. "Until then, we keep punching"

"Alright" was the only thing Phil said. he was now looking forward to the end of this fight, so he could kick Bruce's corpse until both legs of the jaeger were reduced to nothing short of scrap.

'Who the hell named it Bruce, by the way?' both brothers asked to no one in particular.

...

The pilot of one of the retreating kiowa choppers spared a glance back to the battlefield. No one back an the Shatterdome believed his story of Horizon turning it's conpod one way to the other as though it was engaged in a discussion with itself, only to end up shrugging its shoulders while it was still locked in a grapple with Bruce.

With a whine of motors, Horizon Brave twists the Kaiju into the earth and slams its fist into the Kaiju's gut, a spray of cryogenic gases jetting out from the fist a moment before it hits. Bruce crumples from the blow and as Horizon draws back, shards of armour come with it. Bruce, staggering from the blow seems to be having a hard time matching Horizon Brave as the Jaeger continues twisting the Kaiju into the earth. It doesn't take much for Horizon to overpower the Kaiju, twisting it over onto its side effortlessly. The ground trembles as Horizon smashes Bruce again, this time the Kaiju coughing up coolant as the freezing gases seep their way into its exposed gut. And then Horizon Brave seems to stumble, nearly falling face first on the Kaiju in the tussle. Despite the slip up Horizon manages to turn the stumble into a win, pinning the Kaiju under its tremendou weight. Once more the first draws back. *CRUNCH* *SPLAT* *CRUNCH*

Despite the abuse it has suffered at the hands of Horizon Brave, Bruce is mostly intact, only a shallow wound from the tank barrage spilling much of its blood across the bay and within a few hours the worst is contained in a tight cordon. The Kaiju is rapidly stripped for useful materials and Sydney's surviving forces are hauled back to the shatterdome, their crews a little tired but still in relatively good spirits. Had Horizon Brave not quickly destroyed the monster there might've been some panic but the virtually untouched Jaeger serves as a beacon of hope to the city.

As Bruce's corpse is stripped the new K-Science teams discover an interesting anomaly in the Kaiju's history. Bruce never emerged from the breach. It seems odd, that although the Kaiju was observed before the EM storm wiped out global communications there was no record of its emergence. While this confuses the teams at first most quickly jump to conclusions, many blaming it on bad record keeping but some, most vocally the flame wearing K tech head, believe that perhaps the creature arrived on Earth by some other means...

He finds a captive audience in the mess hall in the form of his J tech counterpart. The man has been part of the Jaeger program as long as Australia has. An accomplished multi-disciplinary engineer he soon directs the conversation to other subjects.

"An expansion of our military would give us an edge right now. All the plans for Horizon won't do squat if a Kaiju eats us."

"All the more reason to strength the Jaeger. The Kaiju are so unpredictable we need to make sure the Darby brothers have all the power we can give them. Did you see the acid sprayers on Bruce? Those things were completely concealed before the bastard used them."

"And what happens if something happens to Horizon that we can't fix quickly? What'd protect us if the Jaeger was down? We'll I've got some ideas. Out in the bay we've got some old frigate hulls that're mostly intact. With a bit of work we could get them sailing again and armed with some of these."

A thin folder slides across the table. A pair of tired eyes go wide.

"That is a very large missile. Holy crap, the payload! How many could you get on a frigate?"

The J tech head smirks. "At least a dozen."

"That's...pretty darn good. I want one. Or six. But we've still gotta keep working on Horizon. I mean we didn't even finish installing the upgrades last week."

A quiet voice cuts through the chatter. "You know, we could just do a bit of both." Both men look at the speaker. The deathly knight gives the pair a shit eating grin.

The K tech head opens his mouth and raises a finger, but can't actually find a counter point. "...why didn't we think of that?"

"Who knows. I'd be happy with it though."

"Mmmm."

The military commander just keeps grinning.

As Horizon is locked back into its bay to receive the last of its upgrades, the rest of Sydney mourns the loss of their air fleet. Almost eighty pilots were and tankers were lost to Bruce's acid sprayer. The sudden loss leaves a gap in Sydney's defence force, one which the city's military leaders quickly fill with several companies of light artillery. The batteries of guns, quickly salvaged from wrecked tanks or assembled in several factories, probably won 't do too much to stop a Kaiju but to the newly trained crews, they're better than nothing.

The call is put out to surrounding towns and cities, encouraging any stragglers to move into the relative safety of the city. Blocks of houses are demolished and prefab apartments are thrown up for the new arrivals and a new hydroponics centre is established to better feed the city. By the end of the week the population has swelled, bolstered by tens of thousands of survivors from regional centres such as Newcastle, Wollongong and the Central Coast. Many report close encounters with Kaiju, though the reports are too scattered and wild to take much verifiable information from.

After the brawl with Bruce, a band of J-Tech technicians are inspired by Horizon's cryogenic punches and start work on a system of vents and reserve tanks which would allow the Jaeger to cover an opponent in freezing gases as it fought. The project is ambitious though and with the city's resources seemingly elsewhere, the technicians make little headway without the proper funding or manpower. The team promise results but for the moment all they have is a few empty coolant tanks, good intentions and some oddly shaped paperclips.

Their research will have to wait though, as the scanner grid lights up again, sending a chill of fear through the city...

The technician manning the console almost has a heat attack as the computer spits back a result.

WARNING. INBOUND KAUU SIGNATURE DETECTED, CATEGORY IV. ALL HANDS TO STATIONS.


	5. Chapter 5: Week 4

Pages 15-21

Week 4

WARNING. INBOUND KAUU SIGNATURE DETECTED, CATEGORY IV. ALL HANDS TO STATIONS.

Not taking any chances with faulty software, a flight of scout choppers is quickly prepared and sent out to verify the find. Within a few minutes the choppers report back. There's two Kaiju advancing towards Sydney from the west, so close together that they're practically standing on each other's toes. It's quickly summerised that the system resolved the signature as one Kaiju due to their proximity.

One, a tall, armoured, almost disturbingly human shape is quickly tagged as Ragorod. It's a big CAT II, its long arms and mouth ending in a mess of writing, grasping tentacles. It lopes forward, tugging the other Kaiju along with it. The other, Vagabond, is a little more confusing. At first the choppers can't make out a clear shape and it takes several minutes for them to realise what's happening. The Kaiju, a squat, ape-like brawler, is covered in earth, dirt, concrete, trees, bushes... whatever it can literally get its hands on. As it advances it tears up the earth, absorbing it into the shifting mass that covers its body. As they watch the Kaiju slowly gains mass, more and more being added to the hodgepodge armour covering it. Vagabond follows closely behind its larger partner, tagging along like a small child following its mother.

The Jumphawks roar out past the low defensive wall of the city, plopping Horizon Down half a kilometre out to intercept the two Kaiju. Behind, a rush of men, cannons and trucks race to the wall, crushing several smaller vehicles which are too slow to get out of the way. The few remaining tank squadrons form up behind the Jaeger and over, the last few helicopters buzz nervously. Having learned from the losses against Bruce the varied units are spaced much wider than before, between both individual vehicles and the units they make up. Vagabond and Ragarod continue to advance, the taller of the Kaiju sometimes having to pull the smaller one along like a child. A brief squabble breaks out between the Kaiju before they continue advancing again.

The two snarling Kaiju continue to draw closer, the artillerymen on the wall slowly adjusting the bearing on their guns on Ragarod as it marches closer. They look nervously at their officers as the two Kaiju pass the firing line for the tanks, close enough to almost see the pitch black pupils in the Kaiju's eyes. Ragarod takes another massive step forward, seemingly oblivious to the danger, Vagabond trying to tug it back frantically...

Too late.

"FIRE!"

A wave of rockets and shells washes down on the two clustered Kaiju, throwing up massive plumes of dirt and fire. A few missiles and rockets dig deep into Ragarod's relatively unarmoured legs, burning a score of gaping holes through the creature's thick skin and eliciting a howl of pain from the creature. Vagabond, as if anticipating the barrage tucks deep into its protective shell with a frightened squeal, each hit knocking loose a massive pile of dirt and earth but doing no real damage to the Kaiju inside. It emerges, blinking, into the sunlight again, its massive earth shield almost completely depleted. A massive, alien looking plant slides down its face, the Kaiju's eyes tracking it the entire way.

With a frustrated roar Vagabond rounds on the other Kaiju, as if blaming it for its misfortune. Ragarod hisses back but is unable to ward off its smaller, furious cousin and an do little before the smaller Kaiju wraps a brawny hand around each of its limbs and hurls it like a hammer towards the tank squadrons. The tankers can only watch in surprise as the several thousand ton Kaiju comes arcing through the air towards them, only a few having the immediate sense to desperately try and back up. If there was some sort of Olympic event for Kaiju tossing, Vagabond would be a champion, its larger cousin slamming down into the tank squadron with a surprised hiss and a impact that is felt for kilometres around.

The sudden impact doesn't do any favours for Ragarod though and with a sickening crack the Kaiju's neck twists and the heavy shell sheers off, utterly ruined. It's still alive though and groggily gets to its feet, staring Horizon Brave down like the Jaeger owed it a large sum of money. It takes a defensive stance, or at least, as best as it can manage after being hurled over a kilometre. One of the Artillerymen on the wall sums the situation up quite well.

"Well, fuck."

Horizon Brave quickly pivots on the spot, pounding towards the Kaiju which had arrived so unexpectedly next to it. Ragarod writhes its tentacles in anticipation, happily accepting the Jaeger's challenge. Meanwhile, Vagabond has a moment to realise that it just threw its friend away when another wave of shells slams into it. Most go wide or bounce off its thick skin, but a handful find their way into its sunken eyes and explode with tremendous force, blowing the Kaiju's eyes out completely.

Ragarod twists aside at the last second, surprising Horizon's pilots with a quick burst of speed. It wraps its tentacles around Horizon trying to pin the Jaeger to the ground. Vagabond easily twists the off-balance Jaeger to the ground, lashing out with its other arm with an excited roar. But Vagabond seems to have trouble hitting the struggle Jaeger, almost as if its limbs don't seem to be working quite properly. Still, it manages to get a reasonable hit in on the Jaeger's head, the primary sensors temporarily going into shutdown from the hit. The effort of the blow seems to agitate the Kaiju's neck injury though and something deep inside the Kaiju's neck pops with a wet squelch.

Vagabond continues plodding towards the fight, stumbling aroused blindly and following the sounds of the two titans duking it out. Horizon Brave easily manages to wrest back control of the fight, trapping the Kaiju's arm behind its back and putting it off balance. The artillery and tanks squadrons continue to pound Vagabond but their fire is wild and sporadic, another company running out of ammo in short order and only one group of shells managing to inflict any real damage. The rounds burst on Vagabond's face further irritating it's ruined eye sockets.

Horizon Brave slams its reinforced gorget down on top of Ragnarod's head, the Kaiju reeling senselessly from the blow. With a contemptuous twist, the Jaeger tips the Kaiju over onto its side. With a crunch, Horizon Brave's fist plows into the defenseless Kaiju's gut, a spray of cryogenic gases jetting out of the fist and out of the Jaeger's torso freezer cannon. Ragnarod writhes and almost jumps out from beneath Horizon as the ice seeps under its skin. The Kaiju seems to rally for a comeback when Horizon Brave slams it into the hard earth and puts an armoured traction pad through its neck.

Vagabond hearing the sickening crunch, lets loose a roar of rage and doubles down, covering itself from head to toe in anything from car bodies to clumps of dire, anything it can get its hands on. As Horizon Brave pulls its foot free of the Kaiju, a warning pipes up through the Jaeger's sensor suite. The Kaiju's corpse is heating up at a ferocious rate, its flesh sloughing off in great sheets, melting and liquifying as the Kaiju literally burns. There's barely time to shout a warning before the creature's chest explodes in a flaming ball of acidic pus. Horizon shields its conpod behind its arm, a dozen warnings flaring to life as the acidic fire eats away at the Jaeger's shoulder armour like it was wet paper.

The units with ammunition remaining realigning their guns and firing again. A wave of tiny rockets and shells pepper the Kaiju's hiding hole, spraying geysers of dirt into the air but not managing to reach the beast inside. Another battery of artillery runs dry and the Kiowas buzzing overhead have little to do but swoop the Kaiju once more before somewhat dejectedly heading back to base.

Leaving the slowly melting corpse of Ragnaord behind, Horizon Brave powers towards the mound where Vagabond is hiding, thousands of tons of metal shaking the ground with each massive footstep. The pile seems to stir, but before the Kaiju can emerge properly, Horizon Brave's armoured fist descends through the pile of earth, swinging roughly where the Kaiju's head ought to be. Lucky the pilot's reckoning is dead on and as the Kaiju bursts out to meet them, Horizon's fist connects with a loud crack. The beast's thick skin and tough skull barely does anything to ward the blow off and with a wet squelch, Horizon's fist punches straight through into the Kaiju's brain pan. Vagabond lets out a brief squeak of surprise, its beak-like mouth gnashing open and shut a few times before slumping over dead.

Minutes after the somewhat messy demise of Vagabond, Horizon Brave is hauled back to the Shatterdome and decontaminated. Ragarod's acid has turned most of the shoulder to a twisted, blackened mess. The acid is not only corrosive, it's also incendiary, and much of the internal structure has suffered heat damage as well. New parts are already being assembled as the Jaeger is lowered into the shatterdome though it will take some time to refit it. The two Kaiju, are, for the most part, either relatively intact or burnt to a cauterised sludge, meaning the cleanup effort is quickly organised and established, although cleaning some spatters of Ragarod's acid off the city wall takes quite a few 'volunteers' and a lot of neutralisers.

The week in Sydney following the demise of Vagabond and Ragarod is a busy one. There is some discussion over what direction the city needs to take but with confidence in their Jaeger and military all concerned come to a unanimous conclusion. With Sydney's shorthanded military slightly replenished, much more the city's resources can be dedicated towards research and innovation. After several weeks of pounding Kaiju with high explosive shells and leaving a mess everywhere, the city's artillery and armoured units are refitted to carry incendiary rounds based off old white-phosphorous shells from the Vietnam war. The rounds are expected to curb the amount of cleanup required by a significant margin and a re a welcome sight for the city's weary cleanup crews.

Research into the Cyro-grapple system continues and for the first time since the project's inception, a promising outcome is achieved. Plans for extra cyro sprayers and reserve tanks are drawn up, all linked to an ingenious neural feedback system which automatically triggers when certain parts of the Jaeger move and impact during the rough and tumble nature of a prolonged grapple. the system does have some flaws though namely the sprayers themselves being fairly inefficient and the advanced neural link will be relatively expensive to manufacture and fine tune so as to not cause any unwanted accidents. Even so the X-8 Cyro System is labeled finished and ready for production.

Horizon Brave also receives some attention, new plans being drawn up to refit the Jaegers internal structure with more resilient supports and more effective damage control measures. The Jaeger's shoulder is completely refitted and reworked and by the end of the week the Jaeger is sporting a new hand-painted decal of a cartoon likeness of itself crushing a Kaiju underfoot. While strictly against regulations, removing the decal is never quite gotten around to, and within a few hours, a kill count is quickly added beneath the art.

In light of all these new wonderful toys being developed, the city's manufacturing output is increased, round the clock shifts being organised for factories and more comprehensive skill training being phased in. For the first time since the fall of global communications, small novelty and luxury items start to appear again as less of Sydney's manufacturing needs are required for essential services.

The comfort of such novelties though are quickly lost as the scanner flashes again...

WARNING. INBOUND KAUU SIGNATURE DETECTED, CATEGORY III. ALL HANDS TO STATIONS.

* * *

AUTHORS NOTE:  
One of the events in this chapter has a massive impact on the turns to come. If you've not read the thread and guess what it is then give yourself an elephant sticker.


	6. Chapter 6: Week 5

Pages 21-28

Week 5

WARNING. INBOUND KAUU SIGNATURE DETECTED, CATEGORY III. ALL HANDS TO STATIONS.

The scanners are engaged though by the time they have a solid lock on the Kaiju it's already unnervingly close to the city. Maybe it's the fact that its coming from the east and the water is doing a fantastic job of shielding its approach or maybe the scanner operators just got complacent. Either way, the first sign of the Kaiju is caught by an Armidale out on patrol. The tiny patrol boat is quick to flee before the creature, it easily outweighs the vessel twenty times over and is by far the largest Kaiju to approach Sydney in recent history. Something about the creature raises a few alarm bells though and the signature is quickly checked with existing records.

There's an almost perfect match.

The new Kaiju, named Wecker, is almost suspiciously similar in shape to the Kaiju which ravaged Tokyo almost a decade ago, Onibaba, though it is significantly larger and heavier than its predecessor.

Horizon Brave is quickly attached to its transports and hauled over the wall, almost literally being hurled over by the helicopters carrying it. Behind follows the nimble forms of the few remaining Tigers and Kiowas. Due to the failings of the scanners Wrecker is already a mere 2kms of the Wall of Life. On the other hand it is also already in range of the Tigers. With a low whoosh a dozen heavy rockets spring off their rails and zip towards the Kaiju's small head, covering the distance in mere seconds. A wave of fire and thermite rains down the Kaiju's face, burning away what exposed skin it has.

Wecker doesn't even noticed, plowing through the fireball like it was water vapour. It fixes its beady eyes on the wall and the city beyond the sheets of molten metal which run down its face and unleashes an unnatural roar. Wecker continues its advance, ponderously moving towards the city wall. As it moves it seems to bend over, a rack of sharp barbs that protude out the top of its carapace slowly becoming visible as the Kaiju shifts is incredible mass forward. With a electric twang, one of the barbs shoots forward, punches straight through Horizon Brave's left thigh armour and continues on through the other side.

As alarms sound throughout the conpod another complication quickly comes to light. The barbs seem to be coated in some sort of crippling toxin, every passing second another motive system to wink off and the Jaeger becomes stiff and sluggish. However Horizon's pilots are experts at damage control and swiftly bring auxiliaries online and in an ingenious move, flush the toxins eating through systems out with a few controlled bursts of the fire control system.

Horizon Brave stomps forward, ports snapping open and shut in anticipation for battle. Wecker seems to regard the Jaeger for a second before charging forward with a grating chittering sound. For a Kaiju of its size its damn fast, and Horizon's pilots have a only a few moments to react as the Kaiju tries to upend them. Horizon Brave tries darting aside but Wecker is too fast, swatting the Jaeger aside with a claw across the neck. The weight of the blow bends the Jaeger back, slamming it to the ground. In response the brothers fire all three Freezer Cannons. With the Kaiju almost standing on top of the Jaeger, Horizon Brave's pilots have an easy time guiding the streams of freezing gases into the less armoured bits of Wecker's body. The Kaiju shudders as two jets play across its underbelly.

Wecker ignores the prone Jaeger though, charging straight over its prone form and going for the Wall of Life. With a jarring impact the Kaiju slams face first into the wall before raking its massive claws across the structure. Hundreds of tons of concrete and metal sheer, break and collapse as Wecker snaps and tears at the wall.

"It's nearly through the wall! Get back in there Horizon!" One of the Helicopter pilots radio

Horizon Brave groggily pick itself up off the ground, its head shaking from side to side in a comfortingly human-like gesture as its pilots regain their footing. Wecker ignore them, completely focused on the wall ahead of it. Behind the wall, Sydney's assembled might opens fire, hundreds of shells booming out towards the invading Kaiju. The wave of ordinance arcs up and then down, raining all around the Kaiju, leaving small craters that pock marking the wall and exploding around and across Wecker's face.

The Kaiju doesn't even feel it.

Wecker responds by ripping at the last remaining parts of the wall holding back its advance, shearing through like a hot knife through butter. A wide section collapses, reduce to a pile of rubble spreading out on either side of the wall. The Kaiju lets out a victorious bellow and places its first foot through the breach. But the Jaeger is already coming up behind it.

Horizon Brave quickly closes the distance between it and Wecker, the Kaiju completely oblivious until the last moment. With an unearthly screech Wecker tries to sidestep the rapid bull rush, but is much too slow. With a mechanical whine of protest the Jaeger shoulder-checks the Kaiju, initially trying to flip the Kaiju but instead slamming the moving Kaju's head back into its armoured carapace. With a sickening crack, Wecker's neck buckles under the blow, several bones in its spine twisting in on themselves or breaking. A moment later the cryo cannons discharge, the Kaiju's small neck turning into a blackened, ragged mess.

Wecker rallies, its neck twisting horribly as it rounds on the Jaeger, it should be in immense pain but the Kaiju seems to not notice. Instead it snaps at the Jaeger furiously with its claws! Horizon Brave almost rolls aside but Wecker anticipates the move, one of its claws snagging the Jaeger around the ankle and clamping down hard. Sirens sound as the armour buckles and breaks with a sharp crack. Horizon is just quick enough to escape with a twist of it's leg before the claw can snap shut with a clack.

Wecker raises a claw to block the strike but Horizon Brave is too fast, quickly jabbing its fist into the Kaiju's windpipe before it can mount a proper defence. The Kaiju roars back, the blow just seems to have pissed it off. With another wide swing it comes back at Horizon Brave with its massive pincers. Horizon Brave easily slips aside of the ungraceful Kaiju's strike, Wecker's claw swinging wide through open space.

Having had enough of this dance the pilots, direct Horizon Brave in closer, seeking for a more 'hands on' approach. Wecker tries to crunch down on Horizon Brace's thigh but the Jaeger is too fast, batting the claw aside, slipping inside its reach and gripping it by the head and shoulder. Wecker puts up a good fight but Horizon Brave has just a little more finesse, batting away a claw and putting pressure on the Kiaju's neck. The jaeger has no trouble in pushing its advantage home against the Kaiju, beating away a desperate swipe from a claw and slamming Wecker's head against the breach, knocking the Kaiju senseless.

With a mighty bellow of its horn, Horizon Brave slams its shoulder into the Kaiju's chest and grabs a hold of two of Wecker's spindly legs. The systems start to complain as the Jaeger starts to spin, Wecker is just too heavy. The pilot's ignore the computer's complaints, resolutely pushing past the torque limit warnings and putting every iota of concentration into moving the the Kaiju. Finally, something gives and with a mechanical groan, the Jaeger starts to turn, as if throwing a hammer and the Kaiju follows.

The odd display only lasts a moment before Horizon Brave releases its partner and the Kaiju spirals uncontrollably into the Wall of Life. Wekcer has a moment to howl in frustration before it is impaled face first on a mess of massive reinforcement beams. With a loud pop, a four metre wide metal spar enters through an eye and emerges out the top of the Kaiju's head, punching clean through the thick plates which encase Wecker's entire head.

Wecker twitches a few times feebly before Horizon puts it out of its misery, stomping a traction pad through its ruined neck. With another loud pop the Kaiju's head comes free, impaled grisly on the side of the wall like a trophy. In the conpod, Byron turns to Phil, his steady panting audible even over the dozens of alarms which chime in their helmets.

"Now would the time to make a bad joke, no?" He said, gesturing to his brother weakly.

Phil grins, slumped over tiredly in his harness. "Don't loose your head over it mate."

The body of Wecker is immediately set upon by containment and reprocessing teams and within a few hours, little but a few bones is left to mark where the massive Kaiju once was. Despite the wall falling, the bloodless victory has raised the hopes of Sydney's residents and everywhere the only thing talk about was the titanic brawl between the two giants. The fight was recorded by one of the orbiting scout choppers and soon the video has circulated around the city's intraweb.

As the civilians get a kick out of watching the giant enemy crab get hit in it's weak spot for massive damage, a more military individual is also reviewing the fight. Although the decisions made for Sydney's governance are a result of rounds debates and votes made by the highest ranking individuals, there is one person who holds the power to end discussion and force a final vote. The Marshal of the Shatterdome. To the people on the street, and even the lower rungs of the military ladder, the Marshal is a shadowy figure. To the decision makers, she is somewhat better known. The Marshal has been directing the Shatterdome for many years and has earned near fanatical devotion from many of the staff for her strategic planning and legendary good luck. She is never seen wearing anything other than an unusual outfit that puts most in mind of priestly robes. Although what religion would use human skulls as it's primary motif is a question that none have been able to answer. Unlike the masses the Marshal is more analytical of the fight. She watches Wecker getting it's head impaled upon a girder multiple times.

"All that armour couldn't save it when all the Kaiju's weight was behind it...we can use that. The great advantage of a Jaeger is being able to bring massive weapons to the Kaiju. So what could you hit a Kaiju with that's bigger than a Jaeger mounted weapon? Another Kaiju of course."

The Marshal's smile is neither warm nor friendly and promises extreme violence.

Horizon Brave is hauled back to the hanger and pulled apart. Fragments of the barb Wecker shot at the Jaeger are recovered and analysed and soon Sydney's scientist are conducting exploratory work into a similar debilitating toxins. Soon two distinct schools of thought emerge, one wanting to weaponise it and the other wanting to study it further and better prepare the Jaeger if such an attack was used again. The Jaeger itself is in fairly good shape, though the ankle armour is damaged beyond repair and a new plate will have to manufactured. A plan of action is rapidly drawn up and agreed to.

Horiozen Brave is quickly patched up and a new iron plate is installed over the Jaeger's delicate ankle joint before the end of the day. Wecker's debilitating acid is broken down and basic counters are devised and installed in the Jaeger, supplementing the growing suite of defensive modifications being installed on the Jaeger. Several pieces of spare armour are also manufactured and put into storage in case the need for them arises again.

Sydney's communication network is upgraded again as well, fibre-optic cables being strung out and connecting outlying towns with the central hub. Reports of several nearby Kaiju filter in and soon a rough map of the beast's positions is made. A large train full of supplies is found overturned near the town of Maitland and under the supervision of the scout helicopters, many carriages are simply hitched to the the Shatterdome's Jumphawks and carried back into the city.

The K-Tech head writes a quick summery of the two Kaiju that is passed around to those with clearance:

Grippler - _A tall, lanky CAT II striding through the Central Coast region. Its slimy skin is punctured by a score of long spines and long, unnatural growths bulge from under its skin along its arms._

Lavrik - _A squat, turtle-like CAT III which is slowly making its way through the Blue Mountains. A large horn juts from its head and its craggy shell looks to be almost impenetrable._

While this is all going on, dozens of scientists, technicians and engineers comb the shatterdome for anything useful. Old computer systems are brought online and scanned and the massive archive room is searched methodically. Most of the data is fragmented, corrupted, or incomplete, thanks to the massive electro-magnetic storm and the ensuring chaos which followed, but some scraps are tentatively put together. Despite the promising nature of the data found, there is only time for one option to be explored at the moment.

The J-Tech head sends around his own report of the others to review.

1: _An old Australian designed heavy helicopter gunship, the Kookaburra. Conceived as a heavy Anti-Kaiju weapon the project was scrapped some years ago due to lack of funding and thought lost. It seems not though, as the fragments of the design specifications are found. With a little more work, it might be possible to rework the city's auto-jigs to construct the craft._

2: _Plans for construction and maintenance of prefabricated modules. With another week or two, our engineers think they would be able to incorporate these designs into the current city plan, reducing the cost of upgrading certain parts of the city's infrastructure_

3: _References to the material composition of the armour used by the Mark IV Jaeger. Echo Sabre. A blend of titanium, cobalt, aluminium and palladium create a strong but light armour. Our teams believe it will be quite expensive to manufacture compared to Horizon's current set of armour but quite a bit more durable. They're going need time to research the alloy more and to eventually reshape it to fit Horizon Brave's current armour configuration._

The discussion over the potential projects is short. There is some support for the armour but most are in favour of the construction rigs, reasoning that Sydney needs all the resource efficiency it can get. The designs for the Module rigs are quickly put together and over the course of a few days, a team of engineers, computer experts and scientists work day and nigh to bring the design to fruition. By the end of the week Sydney's shatterdome is home to a small scale version of the machine which produces simple preloaded electronic devices and toys from file, much to the delight of the city's citizens. The full scale Variable Prefab Module Construction Rigs are quickly acronymed PMCRigs.

The other projects are shelved for the time being, who knows, maybe they can be picked up again...

WARNING. INBOUND KAIJU SIGNATURES DETECTED, UNKNOWN CLASSIFICATION. ALL HANDS TO STATIONS.

* * *

Authors Note:

So in the...long time...since I last did this Sufficient Velocity has added a new feature to the forums. Threadmarks. They allow the OP to tag a post with a threadmark. Darn useful, but does make me feel just a touch unneeded.  
On thing I wanted to bring up was the numbers and statuses involved in the fights. So far I've been leaving them out. But written text doesn't really have and easy way to convey stat loss and strikes taken(hp loss) without getting super contrived and I fell that some of the understanding is lost. As such I was wondering if anyone cared enough to have the actual numbers added in.  
Also leave me some reviews. If there's anything that I could be changing or doing differently for the betterment of the story let me know, otherwise it'll stay the same.


	7. Chapter 7: Week 6

Pages 28-34

Week 6

WARNING. INBOUND KAIJU SIGNATURES DETECTED, UNKNOWN CLASSIFICATION. ALL HANDS TO STATIONS.

Sydney's scanner grid quickly churns to life, immediately picking up three signatures working their way up from the south. After last weeks failure the team manner the scanners has been added to. A young private of Irish heritage excitedly mans the station as the scanner grid beings to spit out it's readings. While the system picks up the Kaiju without issues, the neither the computer or it's operators can find a match to the Serizawa scale. These Kaiju, quickly codenamed Ulysses, Grant and Patton, are emitting energy signatures unlike any other Kaiju ever encountered.

From the scans, Ulysses seems to be the largest of the three, tall, thin and lanky. Patton precedes the Kaiju protectively. its massive hammy fists tearing huge chunks out of the earth as it strikes forward and its long dog-like tongue tasting the air excitedly. Both Kaiju have sets of large spines growing out their back and strange energy signatures occasionally crackle from them. Most concerning of all, Grant is no where to be seen and barely a minute after a sensor lock is achieved, the Kaiju starts to fade from existence on the screens. Patton and Ulysses are approaching from the due south, following the inside of the wall. Grant's signature is about 2km inland, a bit further south and is fading fast.

Despite a heavy shower building as the Kaiju close in, Sydney's forces marshal out of the city, hundreds of nimble light trucks towing field guns and ammunition and squadrons of armoured tanks following behind. Overheard roars the few remaining helicopters and Horizon Brave, the Jaeger's leg shining like new. The shining armour is quickly muddied as the Jaeger is released ten kilometres from the city, quickly sinking a few metres into the soft earth.

The last two scout chopper squadrons race ahead, getting a visual on the approaching Kaiju through the worsening weather.

"Buzzard one to command, we have a visual on Patton and Ulysses. The little bastard looks like he has a tough shell but the tall skinny bloke looks fairly unarmoured."

"Any sign of Grant?"

"Negative- wait one... Command, there's definitely something about two klicks west, can't get a clear visual."

"Copy. Buzzed one, we are reading an energy spike from one of the Kaiju, what's going on out there?"

The scout chopper pilot barely has a moment to respond before Ulysses points a long, slender finger accusingly at the squadron and a bolt of blinding electricity leaps forth!

"Oh fuck!" The pilots cries, every panel going dim for a moment as the bolt misses by less than a hundred metres. The helicopter wobbles unsteadily as a crack of thunder splits the air before wheeling around for the relative safety of Horizon Brave. "It's got some sort of electric weapon!"

"Lighting. Friggin' lighting" Byron said, his tone dry and unamused. Much like any time he spoke, really.

"That sure is a way of lighting things up" said Phil, his smirk flashing like the light show before them.

"Oh no you didn't" Byron retorted, almost smacking Horizon's palm through the conpod's glass.

"Guess we'll just have to bolt out of the way if it does that again" continued Phil, his childish chuckles doing no favours for his brother's mood.

The scout choppers buzz around noisily as the assembled troops wait nervously, heavy splotches of rain streaking down tanks and turning the churned earth to mud. For a few tense minutes, nothing happens, only the steadily approaching footsteps of the Kaiju disturbing the relative peace.

Suddenly one of the scouts spots something.

At first its mistaken for a small stream trickling through a gully but as the chopper buzzes closer, a slight shimmer in the air betrays the presence of something larger. It dawns on the assembled army that Grant has some sort of camouflage, blending in almost perfectly with the surrounding terrain. They direct all their scanners on the patch but the Kaiju's heat signature is nonexistent, the only trace of the Kaiju's existence is a slow shimmer in the air and a sick, sliding sound of wet carapace rubbing against carapace. Though your pilots can only guess at its appearance, they guess from the shimmering mass it has a large horn protruding from its long head and strong, powerful legs.

Not willing to sit on it's hands, Horizon Brave breaks rank, its heavy feet struggling against the mud for a moment before coming loose with a wet squelch. The Jaeger pounds towards the Kaiju's last known position, eager to engage with Grant.

There's a problem though.

The scout helicopters, closely monitoring the Kaiju suddenly loose all sign of it, the beast vanishing from their scopes like it never existed. They search frantically for tracks or markings of its passage but fail to find anything of note.

"Fall back!"

The order is given, artillery being lashed to the Carryalls and prepared to move and tanks spinning around on their axis before roaring back towards Sydney. Due to the shear number of guns on the field it will take some time before everyone can be moved back to the relative safety of the wall though. Horizon Brave changes targets and stomps towards the squat, bent over Kaiju, its fists already clenching in anticipation for combat. Patton is all too happy to oblige, pounding its fists into the ground, roaring a challenge and barrelling towards the Jaeger as quickly as its stumpy legs will carry it. The pilots brace for impact but by a stroke of luck the thick mud seems to trip the Kaiju up and it comes to a sudden halt barely a hundred metres from the Jaeger.

The scout choppers are still unable to get a solid lock on Grant, just fleeting whispers on their scanners and soft chirps of ghost signals. It is definitely moving towards Horizon Brave though and if the pilots guesses are any good, it would be probably no further than about 1.5 kilometres away and still closing.

Patton, still stuck in the mud has a moment to look up with something resembling horror before Horizon Brave picks it up by the scruff of the neck and slams it chest first into the ground.

Meanwhile, a few squadrons of tanks and artillery, supported by the lone tiger squadron, take a few pot-shots at the towering form of Ulysses. Despite the quickness of the shots, most of them fly straight and true, Ulysses being engulfed in a raging firestorm. The tankers cheer as the Kaiju writhes and squirms uncomfortably, the fins along its back pricked up to attention. For a moment the fires rage and then Ulysses takes a step forward, completely unharmed by the inferno. A quick scan reveals the creature activated some sort of energy field which protects it from harm, though even now it seems to be struggling, spluttering in and out of existence for a moment before stabilising. Ulysses roars with anger, raising a finger at the artillery batteries lashed to the Carryalls. A bolt of lightning erupts from the tip, arcing between the guns before quickly jumping to the next battery! The gunner's shock only lasts a second before the ravening arcs of electricity tear them apart. The Carryalls are quick to act though and while a few stray arcs leap across their hulls, they sustain no serious damage.

Horizon Brave quickly finds itself accosted as Patton hauls itself free of the mud and tries to clamp its snapping beak down on the Jaeger's thigh. Horizon Brave easily pivots aside of the clumsy strike, the mud and the Kaiju's grasp doing little to slow its actions as it shoves Patton back to the ground. Taking advantage of their downed foe the brothers blast the Kaiju with the Freezer Cannons. Patton tries twisting the Jaeger aside at the last moment but only succeeds in making things worse, receiving two freezing blasts across the back and one squarely between its hind legs. A high pitched screech of pain crosses the battlefield as the creature's groin freezes and contracts under its skin. The sensation only seems to last a moment before the skin breaks and cracks, peeling away in large black sheets.

Clearly Patton will be feeling that in the morning.

The remaining guns boom again, another salvo of shells slamming into the fizzing shield with tremendous force. Nothing seems to happen until one of the tanks fires one last round and the barrier bursts with a loud pop and a wave of electromagnetic interference. Ulysses staggers, several of the spines along its back crackling dangerously then blowing out with a bang. The creature roars again but it seems slightly cowed. Nethertheless, it raises a finger again, this time aiming for Horizon Brave.

The two pilots brace for the worst but the massive shock is successfully dispersed by the Jaeger's damage control systems and the only real discomfort comes in the form of a slight tingle at the edges of their extremities. Patton isn't so lucky though, a stray bolt arcing across its already mangled pelvis and causing the creature to convulse wildly in the mud! Ulysses seems to have suffered some sort of blowback from the strike but quickly recovers.

High above the spectacle, the scout helicopters, searching frantically for Grant finally spot something barely 700 metres from Horizon Brave. They cast their scanners and searchlights on it and within moments, a wavy, slightly out of focus Grant appears, stooped over as it sneaks towards the brawling Jaeger. The Kaiju is quite unlike anything you've seen before, it's feline in appearance although patches of rough, almost rocky skin are visible and a horn almost the size of Horizon Brave's arms juts out the top of its head. A slavering, drooling maw lined with more teeth than imaginable, snaps and rotates in an impossibly freakish way as the Kaiju seems to freeze for a moment, as if aware that its ruse has been discovered. It seems to glare at the scouts before letting out a painful high pitched yowl and charges straight at Horizon Brave.

Horizon Brave tries to shift out of the way but Grant simply _moves_. Its by far the fastest Kaiju seen and in the blink of an eye, Grant's horn is lodged through Horizon's torso like a skewer, shearing through the armour like it were wet tissue paper. Grant withdraws, screeching triumphantly, but Horizon isn't quite out of the fight yet. Despite being surrounded by two Kaiju, Horizon's pilots don't relent, triggering the Freezer cannons again and swathing the entire field with a billowing cloud of gas. Byron's finger remains firmly pressed against the firing stud well after the reserves are depleted. Grant manages to avoid the worst of the icy blast, slipping around the Jaeger like a wet fish. It just isn't Patton's day though, the Kaiju catching the full brunt of the blast. It's right hand is frozen solid and the whole right arm is caught between limp and stiff, lying useless in the mud. The already brutalised pelvis is further ruined, turning black and dead from hip to hip. Patton will not be walking again. It's torso receives the same treatment, with the absurdly thick skin rapidly blackening and sloughing off, leaving a mix of blue raw and black frostbitten flesh exposed to the air.

Somehow, amazingly, the creature is still alive, pawing fruitlessly at the Jaeger's heels with a dogged determination. A sudden rapid spike in Patton's temperature catches the attention of the Shatterdome's LOCCENT operators and before their eyes, they can only watch in amazement as the Kaiju's skin seems to reform and re-knit, blackened flesh peeling away to reveal new muscle. It seems all for naught though as the sheer extent of the Kaiju's injuries finally overcome it and it flops over in the mud with a feeble squeak.

The and artillery and tanks open fire at Ulysses again and although the creature's shield has failed, most of the gunners miss their mark, their targeters disrupted by the sudden EM wave. Ulysses lets out a pitiful whimper at the injury, its eyes shrinking to pinpricks as Patton's death knell reaches it. The Kaiju throws itself to the ground, its unnaturally long arms wrapped around its chest as it rocks back and forth in a fetal position. The amusing scene lasts for a moment longer before Ulysses vanishes in a flash of blinding light and the sound of paper tearing.

Seeing the damage wrought to its companions, Grant quickly tries to back away from Horizon Brave, its long legs carrying it with incredible speed away from the Jaeger. Horizon is quick though and barely manages to catch up to the fleeing creature. Horizon Brave dives after the escaping Kaiju but Grant is just too quick, slipping through the Jaeger's fingers like it were made of oil. It turns, letting out a quiet hiss before fleeing as quickly as it can. The Kaiju's camouflage quickly reasserts itself and within minutes the only sign of the Kaiju is an occasional footprint.

"Command, we lost it. Bastard took off like a ferret down a hole." Phil radios wearily, clutching his gut like he'd been stabbed. He hauled Horizon to its feet with a grunt of pain, Grant was just too quick for them to chase down.

"Affirmative, bring it back home."

Despite the damaged power couplings in its gut, Horizon is kept on station for a few more hours and the scanner grid is watched closely but the two Kaiju are nowhere to be found. Ulysses seems to have vanished into nothing but thin air, a burst of energy similar to that made by the breach the only trace of the towering beast. It may be possible to track Grant though locating the Kaiju would be a fairly demanding task, require coordination between scouts and the city's scanner and communications network. Maybe a task for another day?

Patton's corpse is quickly set upon by cleanup crews and a few things are established. The Kaiju, while similar in capability and size to a CAT II, they seem to emit some form of radiation and energy previously unseen in any previous Kaiju. The degree of self preservation the other members of Patton's brood is possibly signs of a new breed of intelligent Kaiju...

Needless to say, the scientific community has their hands full for the moment.

With the Kaiju threat driven off for the time being, Sydney refocuses its attention. Plans are tossed about and rewritten as the details are debated. A majority decision is soon reached. With the loss of most of its conventional forces, a few opportunistic military types implement the plans drawn up weeks ago by the head of J-Tech. They get to work on a pair of defunct frigates moored in Sydney harbour, ripping out the old, empty modules, removing point defense and fitting large, heavy missile launchers in their place. A short sea trial is conducted before the two ships 'Vigilant' and 'Adelaide' are deemed ready for combat, now sporting weapons more at home on a cruiser than a small frigate.

Effort is also put into standardising the new prefab rigs, simplifying their construction and tooling the existing manufacturing rigs to more effectively construct the prefabricated modules.

The final stages of Horizon Brave's durability upgrades are finalised and installed, engineers also finding the time to work in the new X-8 Cryo system in with the upgrades. By the end of the week, Horizon Brave is fully repaired and refitted, sporting a dozen new ejection ports, reinforced structure and more effective damage control systems in place of its older software.

The newly fitted Jaeger is a vast improvement and that's a good thing to, as the Kaiju alarm sounds again...

WARNING. INBOUND KAIJU SIGNATURE DETECTED, CATEGORY III. ALL HANDS TO STATIONS

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Authors Note:

Ahhh, the X-8 Cryo system. _**IT BEGINS.**_ Ahahahahahahaahahaaaaaa...


End file.
